The Ulster County segment of the annual NYSOA New York State January Waterfowl Count was conducted this past Saturday, 19 January 2019. Pending one outstanding report, six field parties found a total of 7,866 individuals comprising 13 species of waterfowl. Our most recent ten-year average for this countywide effort is 11.7 species and 5,759 individuals. A total of 40 Bald Eagles (19 adults and 21 sub-adults) were observed during the course of the waterfowl count.
A few noteworthy records include 3 Cackling Geese (two grazing a pasture at Blue Chip Farm, one in a cornfield on the Hurley Flats), a raft of 75 Canvasbacks in the Hudson River at Esopus Meadows, and a single drake Wood Duck and a drake Northern Pintail on Stone Ridge Pond. An interesting goose that appeared to be a Barnacle x Canada hybrid was also found and photographed in the Mill Dam Road pond. Typical of this annual mid-winter survey, two pervasive species accounted for 92% of our total abundance: Canada Goose (69%) and Mallard (23%). Mild air temperatures and open water with no snow cover was a predominant theme through early winter until consistently sub-freezing air temperatures solidified a substantial amount of water during the first half of January, forcing some waterfowl to move. Apparently displaced by freezing conditions to our immediate north, a noticeable influx of waterfowl entered or remained in the county during the week leading up to count day but were not found during our day-long survey, including a White-fronted Goose previously seen in the Wallkill River, larger numbers of Canvasbacks (139) in the Hudson River, Ring-necked Ducks in Esopus Creek, and twenty-two Horned Grebes and four Common Loons on Ashokan Reservoir. The following list summarizes our Ulster County Waterfowl Count results: Snow Goose - 1 Canada Goose - 5,420 Cackling Goose - 3 Barnacle x Canada hybrid - 1 Mute Swan - 6 Wood Duck - 1 American Black Duck - 41 Mallard - 1,775 Northern Pintail - 1 Canvasback - 75 Bufflehead - 8 Common Goldeneye - 264 Hooded Merganser - 5 Common Merganser - 265 Thanks to all of the field observers for once again providing extensive coverage of the county. A more comprehensive report will appear at a later date on the John Burroughs Natural History Society website. Steve M. Chorvas Saugerties, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
